Rwanda bill won’t end ‘merry-go-round’ of legal challenges, Jenrick insists

Published

2 years ago

December 9, 2023

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Robert Jenrick has said the government’s Rwanda bill is too weak and will still mean a “merry-go-round” of legal challenges.

The former immigration minister quit this week over the new law – designed to speed up deportations and deter people from crossing the Channel on small boats.

Mr Jenrick, writing in The Daily Telegraph, said the idea it would “guarantee all those arriving are detained and swiftly removed is for the birds”.

He called for a law that “guarantees removal within days, not months, of arrival by blocking off individual challenges that would otherwise prevent that”.

The Newark MP said the bill – currently going through parliament – would still allow migrants to lodge individual appeals against deportation and “concoct a reason to delay their removal”.

Home Secretary James Cleverly travelled to Rwanda this week to sign a revised treaty after the original proposal was ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court.

The court said there was a “real risk” migrants sent there would be returned home and put in danger.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is currently battling to convince his MPs not to reject the bill when they vote on Tuesday.

He’s said the proposals mean successful claims by migrants trying to block their removal will be “vanishingly rare”, but Mr Jenrick said “small boat-chasing law firms” would take advantage.

“The ability for every illegal arrival to lodge a personal claim will place the courts under immense pressure,” Mr Jenrick said in The Telegraph.

“Backlogs will likely build, and cases that would at best take months to resolve will be stayed considerably longer.”

Mr Jenrick said the goal now appeared to be “delivering some symbolic, half-filled flights, taking off in the spring of next year” – and new government legal advice is said to be similarly pessimistic.

The attorney general has been told the bill has a “50% at best” chance of getting fights off the ground next year, according to The Times.

That assessment – said to have been signed off by Sir James Eadie, who represented the government in the Supreme Court – is reportedly based on fears that the European Court of Human Rights would block flights, as it did in June.

“We do not comment on or share government legal advice and it would be very wrong for anyone recently departing government to do so,” said a government official – who didn’t dispute the reported advice.

“Ministers are reassured that this bill goes as far as it can within international law and therefore ensures we can get flights off to Rwanda next year.”

Mr Jenrick and some in the Conservative Party want the UK to pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights, believing it will make it much easier to deport illegal migrants.

“Controlling our borders would, of course, be far more straightforward if we extricated ourselves from the complex web of international frameworks,” said Mr Jenrick in The Telegraph.

The new law will be voted on next Tuesday.

But with opposition parties already vowing to vote against it and fewer than 30 Tory rebels needed to kill the bill off, it could be a tough battle for the prime minister.

And Mr Jenrick closed his Telegraph piece by warning Mr Sunak he would face the “red-hot fury” of voters at the ballot box if he did not address their concerns about immigration.

Sacked former home secretary Suella Braverman posted on X in support of her Tory colleague, saying he “deserves credit for putting principle before career”.

“He knows the detail. It is very concerning that he can’t defend the Bill,” said Ms Braverman.

“The public are relying on us to stop the boats. What do we say to them when we pass another law that fails? Time is running out.”

Politics

Budget 2025: Consumer confidence falls as speculation ramps up – but London mayor welcomes major rail investment

Published

7 hours ago

November 20, 2025

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Budget 2025: Consumer confidence falls as speculation ramps up - but London mayor welcomes major rail investment

Consumer confidence has tumbled amid rampant speculation about what the chancellor will announce in the budget, figures show.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) blamed “strong hints” from the government of income tax hikes for the public’s falling expectations of how much they’ll spend over the next three months – even as Christmas beckons.

While a planned increase in income tax rates was scrapped last week, Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out freezing income tax thresholds – which the Conservatives argue amounts to a tax rise by stealth because it drags people into paying higher rates even if their wages increase.

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said months of uncertainty had “heightened public concern about their own finances and the wider economy”.

Consumer expectations for the state of the economy over the next three months have fallen significantly to minus 44, down from minus 35 in October, according to data from the BRC and Opinium.

Ms Dickinson said action was needed from Rachel Reeves to “bring down the spiralling cost burden facing retailers”, which she said would “keep price rises in check”.

Signs of ‘fragile’ recovery in jobs market

In slightly more encouraging news for Ms Reeves ahead of her statement next Wednesday, new research suggests the jobs market may be on the up.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation said the number of new job adverts last month was 754,359, up by 2.1% from September, taking the total to more than 1.6 million.

Ms Reeves’s decision to hike national insurance contributions for employers in last year’s budget was blamed for a slowdown in the market, and a rising unemployment rate.

The report said there has been an increase in adverts for medical radiographers, delivery drivers and couriers, and further education teaching professionals.

But it warned the apparent recovery was “fragile”.

Reeves set to back DLR extension

One man looking forward to the budget is Sir Sadiq Khan, who has welcomed reports that London’s DLR is set to be given funding for an extension.

According to the Press Association, the chancellor will back an extension to the Docklands Light Railway to Thamesmead at a cost of £1.7bn – unlocking thousands of new homes.

Thamesmead has been notoriously short of public transport links ever since it was developed in the 1960s.

The plan would see the line extended from Gallions Reach, near London City Airport, and include a new station at Beckton as well as in Thamesmead itself.

Sir Sadiq said the DLR extension “will not only transform travel in a historically under-served part of the capital but also unlock thousands of new jobs and homes, boosting the economy not just locally but nationally”.

It is also expected to unlock land for 25,000 new homes and up to 10,000 new jobs, along with almost £18bn of private investment in the area.

Politics

Prospective CFTC chair addresses DeFi regulation at nomination hearing

Published

14 hours ago

November 19, 2025

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Prospective CFTC chair addresses DeFi regulation at nomination hearing

Michael Selig, who serves as chief counsel for the crypto task force at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, faced questions from lawmakers on the Senate Agriculture Committee for his nomination to be the next chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

On Wednesday, Selig appeared before the committee and addressed questions and concerns from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle regarding his potential conflicts of interest, policy views and experience as the next CFTC chair, succeeding Caroline Pham.

Government, Senate, SEC, CFTC, United States — *Michael Selig addressing lawmakers on Wednesday’s confirmation hearing. Source:* *US Senate Agriculture Committee*

In his opening statement, Selig said he had advised a wide range of market participants, including digital asset companies, and warned against the agency taking a regulation-by-enforcement approach, stating that it would drive companies offshore.

“We’re at a unique moment in the history of our financial markets,” said Selig. “A wide range of new technologies, products, and platforms are emerging […] the digital asset economy alone has grown from a mere curiosity to a nearly $4 trillion market.”

The confirmation of Selig, whom US President Donald Trump nominated to chair the CFTC following the removal of his first pick, Brian Quintenz, is expected to head for a vote soon. According to the Senate calendar, the Agriculture Committee is scheduled to discuss his nomination on Thursday.

Addressing DeFi, crypto enforcement, roles of agency

The prospective CFTC chair responded to questions from the committee chair, Senator John Boozman, who advocated for the agency to take a leading role in regulating spot digital commodity markets. The senator’s remarks came as the committee is expected to consider a market structure bill that would give the CFTC more authority to regulate crypto.

“The CFTC, and only the CFTC, should regulate the trading of digital commodities,” said Boozman.

The Arkansas senator questioned Selig about his potential approach to decentralized finance if he were to be confirmed, an issue that reportedly divided many lawmakers on the market structure bill.

“When we’re thinking about DeFi, it’s something of a buzzword, but really we should be looking to onchain markets and onchain applications and thinking about the features of these applications as well as where there’s an actual intermediary involved […]” said Selig.

He added that it was “vitally important that we have a cop on the beat” in response to a question on regulating crypto, specifically spot digital asset commodity markets.